Town Square

On Sunday, a bicycle fest, for the average resident

Original post made
on Oct 4, 2012

There's been pingpong, bocce ball, yoga and tennis. And now, the latest event to spur Palo Altans to meet their neighbors: bike riding. Mayor Yiaway Yeh's final installment of his Mayor's Challenge will take place Sunday afternoon, Oct. 7, with Bike Palo Alto.

Posted by Keen-For-Local-Government
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 4, 2012 at 6:05 pm

Anything to keep people's mind off the fact that the City Council has frittered away another year under this fellow, who has done nothing but focus on unimportant matters. At no time this year has "Mayor Yeh" seemed to recognize that there is a crime wave going on in town, or has he any idea of what to do about the problem.

Posted by looking forward to it
a resident of Midtown
on Oct 4, 2012 at 7:25 pm

I'm glad that the city is helping to provide transportation alternatives for our residents. We don't have enough space to keep paving more roads and parking lots. Bicycling is tremendously more efficient than driving and very practical for a wide variety of local trips. Events like this are very inexpensive for the city to produce, but still provide huge benefits to beginner bicycle commuters.

Posted by Jan H.
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Oct 4, 2012 at 10:12 pmJan H. is a registered user.

Ever been to a City Council Meeting? I went to one recently that was supposed to be about stopping the high speed rail from coming down the Peninsula, at least according to the flyer we received in the mail. By 10:00 pm, they had discussed eight other topics, seven of them trivial, and there were four more topics scheduled to be discussed before the issue of the high speed rail which, of course, was scheduled LAST. Most people had left by 9:00. As it was a week night, we left, never hearing about the issue we wanted to discuss. Of course, the audience was never allowed to speak during the session, so it was pointless, anyway

A year ago, I went to another Council Meeting, along with my neighbors, concerning some condos that a builder wanted approved on our street. We were all sent flyers with the time, date, and location. When nobody showed up after an hour, we went to,the front desk and asked what happened to the meeting that was supposed to start there an hour before. The lady at the desk made a phone call, and reported that the time and place of the meeting had been changed to an hour earlier than we had been told, and relocated to the fourth floor!! With no notice to anyone!! Then we were told the builder's requests had been approved, for lack,of opposition!!!

How crooked can they be? We obviously do not ask or expect enough of our community leaders. How else do we get a City Council and Mayor like this?

Posted by Louise
a resident of Evergreen Park
on Oct 7, 2012 at 12:50 am

What a great event this is, and it's put on by volunteers. I went last year and got a free bike safety inspection and learned about how to get places I never thought I could bike to! If you bike, or you'd like to bike more, check it out!

Some people love throwing potshots at public officials, even when there is no basis in fact to the ignorant statements and dark accusations of "crookedness" they are making. Get involved, work on solutions, be constructive!

Others, like Mayor Yeh, spend tons of hours doing their homework on the "important business" of city government, and then sit through long hours of meetings. In addition, they take on above and beyond efforts to build community, like encouraging neighbors to ride to Bike Palo Alto this Sunday (today) from 1-4 pm at El Carmelo.

Thanks to all who contribute to constructive dialogue and finding solutions in this community.

Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 7, 2012 at 8:55 am

I think this is a stretch to say that this was something the Mayor organized.

This is something that the bicycling groups have done before and are doing again, doing very well, and the Mayor has jumped on the bandwagon. Please do not give credit in the wrong place. He may give it his endorsement and show up, but this is not his brainchild.

Posted by Stanford grad
a resident of another community
on Oct 8, 2012 at 9:37 pm

I actually live in San Francisco but was visiting a friend in the Midtown neighborhood very near this school. Even though I was a bit out of sync with this event, having had our big family bike excursion on Saturday, I just wanted to comment on how much fun it is to bike with kids in Palo Alto. For a good long stretch of the route from this neighborhood to Stanford's campus, it's safe enough for a young child to (with some experience) ride in the street.

My only lament is that hardly any other families were out there riding when we were. Maybe everyone was waiting until Sunday, but with smooth, flat roads and beautiful weather, it seems a shame that the kids-need-to-be-shuttled-from-place-to-place-in-the-family-SUV mindset predominates in Palo Alto.

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